Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Code 22 error is one of several Device Manager error codes. The Code 22 error will almost always display in the following way:

"This device is disabled. (Code 22)"

Details on Device Manager error codes like Code 22 are available in the Device Status area in the device's properties: How To View a Device's Status in Device Manager.

Important: Device Manager error codes are exclusive to Device Manager. If you see the Code 22 error elsewhere in Windows, chances are it's a system error code which you should not troubleshoot as a Device Manager issue.

Cause of the Code 22 Error

A Code 22 error is generated when a hardware device is disabled in Device Manager.

In most cases, a Code 22 error means that the device was manually disabled in Device Manager but you may also see a Code 22 error if Windows is forced to disable the device due to a lack of system resources.

Resolution

Enable the device. Since the most common reason you'll see a Code 22 error in Device Manager is because the device has been manually disabled, try manually enabling it.

Most of the time this will fix a Code 22 issue. Don't worry if it doesn't, however. All that means is that the Code 22 you're seeing was caused by something a bit less common.

Restart your computer if you haven't already.

There's always the chance that the error Code 22 you're seeing on a device was caused by a temporary problem with the hardware. If so, a restart of your computer might be all you need to fix the Code 22 error.

Did you install a device or make a change in Device Manager just before the Code 22 error appeared? If so, it's highly likely that the change you made caused the Code 22 error.

Undo the change if you can, restart your PC, and then check again for the Code 22 error.

Depending on the changes you made, some solutions might include:

Remove or reconfigure the newly installed device.
Roll back the driver to a version prior to your update.
Use System Restore to undo recent Device Manager related changes.
Reinstall the drivers for the device. Uninstalling and then reinstalling the drivers for the device is one possible solution to a Code 22 error.

Important: If a USB device is generating the Code 22 error, uninstall every device under the Universal Serial Bus controllers hardware category in Device Manager as part of the driver reinstall. This includes any USB Mass Storage Device, USB Host Controller, and USB Root Hub.

Note: Correctly reinstalling a driver, as in the instructions linked above, is not the same as simply updating a driver. A full driver reinstall involves completely removing the currently installed driver and then letting Windows install it over again from scratch.

Update the drivers for the device. It's also possible that installing the latest drivers for the device could correct the Code 22 error.

If updating the drivers does remove the Code 22 error, it means that the stored Windows drivers you reinstalled in the previous step were either damaged or were the wrong drivers.

Clear CMOS. If Windows had to disable the device, generating the Code 22 error, due to a lack of system resources, clearing CMOS might fix the problem.

Update BIOS. Another possibility is that a newer BIOS version could better hand off system resource handling to Windows, correcting the Code 22 error.

Move the device to a different expansion slot on the motherboard, assuming of course that the piece of hardware with the Code 22 error is an expansion card of some kind.

If the Code 22 error is due to a lack of system resources available for the card, moving it to a different slot on the motherboard could clear up the problem. This isn't as common a situation with newer hardware and Windows versions but it is possible and is an easy troubleshooting step to try.

Replace the hardware. A problem with the device itself might be the root cause of the Code 22 error, in which case replacing the hardware is the next logical step.